Composing in the
Age of GenAI
How should the composing world respond to GenAI?
When internet-users around the world woke up on November 30th, 2022, they suddenly had access to ChatGPT, the first widely-available generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) application capable of producing sophisticated text output. Some quickly embraced the tool and began integrating it in their composing practice while others were slower to recognize its power and relevance. Regardless of adoption speed, trends indicate that people are increasingly turning to ChatGPT–or any of their later-to-the-game competitors–for work and school. Less than a year after ChatGPT’s launch, GenAI is already embedded in the professional world and in the student toolbox.
This transformative technology introduces innumerable questions for stakeholders in the world of composing. The questions range from the seemingly simple (e.g. how do I get GenAI to write an email?) to the foundational and existential (e.g. what is the necessarily human element of writing that we should preserve and practice and teach?).
How should the composing world respond to this unprecedented explosion of writing technologies? I offer this site as one space to explore questions, offer tentative answers, develop and share resources, and critically reflect how we will allow GenAI to enter our lives, our workplaces, and our classrooms.
Unless otherwise indicated, the resources and ideas on this page represent the evolving work of Dr. Meagan E. Malone. Many of the ideas here come from the work of and conversations with Amy Cates, Dr. Lilian Mina, and Dr. Danny Siegel. The resources and ideas do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Recent Blog Posts
Student Perspective Part II: Craft Supportive, Intentional AI Pedagogy
By: Noa Guest, Junior Computer Science Major In my last blog post, I wrote about my experience as a Computer Science student in a job and academic environment that is rapidly pushing GenAI to be the “next big thing.” I discussed how professors should implement GenAI...
Student Perspective Part I: Keep GenAI OUT of Lower Level Courses
By: Noa Guest, Junior Computer Science Major In my junior year high school Computer Science class, I wrote an assignment making fun of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)for not being advanced enough to be helpful. A year later, I relied on it in my Java...
Two-Part Student Perspective: How Professors Can Best Support Students in the GenAI-Age
By: Noa Guest, Junior Computer Science Major As a college student, I find that generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is unavoidable. Some of the biggest GenAI-haters I know have admitted to using it to cheat in their online classes. Many students have given up...
Student Perspective: Five Ways Alabama Residents Can Help Offset GenAI’s Environmental Footprint
By: Joseph Axworthy, Junior Writing and Media Major In my last blog, I talked about the need to look for ways that we can help preserve our planet to balance GenAI’s huge environmental footprint. However, looking for ways to get involved can feel laborious, so as an...
Engaging topics, creative authenticity, and room to fail: What motivates students to resist lazy GenAI-use and think critically instead
The previous post in this GenAI and Critical Thinking series reports on interviews I did with three of my former students. In the post, I identify parts of my composition curriculum that students say made them think critically. I then suggest that writing instructors...
Critical Thinking Superchargers (according to students): Group work, Text Annotation, and Primary Research
Using GenAI to compose may lead to fewer opportunities for students to think critically during the writing process. One response for instructors is to identify the writing tasks that require the most critical thought and then emphasize those in the curriculum....
Student Perspective: Data Centers, Deforestation, and Doing Our Part
A dirt road created by a power company cutting hundreds of native plants in the process at my family’s farm in Brazil. By: Joseph Axworthy, Junior Writing and Media Major I can still smell the smoke of machinery and hear the whirring of chainsaws, watching as a...
Student Perspective: The GenAI Problems That Academics Ignore
By: Joseph Axworthy, Junior Writing and Media Major The rise of GenAI in the work and academic setting is controversial. When we are asked to choose between the exploitation of people and planet or streamlining that email to Becky who’s two cubicles down, the...
Introducing a Multi-Part Series: Infusing Critical Thinking in the GenAI-Era Classroom
A new study from MIT, still under peer-review, appears to confirm what many educators have intuited since GenAI’s inception. Among other conclusions, the study finds that students who rely mainly on large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT to compose essays...
How do students FEEL about my new grading policy for the age of GenAI?
Last week, I had my First Year Composition (FYC) students complete an anonymous survey that asked them how they felt about a new assessment strategy I am piloting this semester. The policy, which I detail in a previous post, is designed to resist using plagiarism...
Are you interested in exchanging ideas with those invested in teaching, learning, and working in the age of GenAI? Visit the contact page to learn more and to reach out.
All the illustrations were created using Adobe’s Firefly Generative AI.
